Over The Wall

Ryan Buscaglio

By Dennis Terry

This week’s Bass Pro Shops pit crew spotlight is on Ryan Buscaglio, pronounced Buzz-kaag-lee-O.

Buscaglio is 29 years old and is from Lake Worth Florida.  He is married to his wife Cristi whom he met in 2003 at a party in the Talladega infield.   

Buscaglio has a degree in occupational therapy from Lenor-Rhyne college and graduated in 2001.

At Lenor-Rhyne, Buscaglio played outside linebacker on the football team.  This is the same football team where Trent Cherry played QB, which explains why most people have never heard of the school.

During the week Buscaglio is a registered occupational therapist.  His job requires “house calls” providing at home physical therapy for the elderly.  Basically, he drives around all day giving massages to old people.

But, on the weekends Buscaglio is the front tire carrier for our world championship pit crew.

There is a saying among us tire changers that you are only as good as your carrier.  In this particular situation it’s the other way around.  I’m usually the one who makes him look good and that’s not easy considering that he is 6’-1”, weighs 220 lbs. and looks like Vanilla Ice meets Taylor Hicks.

When Buscaglio is not racing or rubbing someone’s sore back he can usually be found floating in the LakeNorman sun somewhere close to the sand bar or entertaining the campers on the Talladega infield.  He also enjoys golfing and he has a trophy commemorating one of his last place finishes at a local NASCAR tournament.

On pit road Ryan is easily recognizable, popular and well respected by other pit crews.  He works well under pressure and has proven himself to be one of the most consistent tire carriers out there. 

DEI recognized Ryan this week as the “pit performer of the week” for his near flawless performance at Michigan.  Ryan helped our team achieve our best pit stop average of the year, 12.90 seconds, and his quick work with fender and air dam adjustments was instrumental in achieving a great day in the pits.

See Ryan at…  http://www.daleearnhardtinc.com/content/news/default.aspx?StoryID=1629

DT

Mark Kennerly

By Dennis Terry

From time to time I like to get away from the NASCAR current events that everyone else is talking about and focus the blog on people and events that you never see on ESPN or read about on thatsracin.com.

So, for the next couple of weeks I’m going to use the blog to spotlight my teammates and give you my take on the unique personalities that work hard to give Martin 12 second pit stops.

The first crewman spotlight from the Bass Pro Shops 2006 world champion pit crew is Mark Kennerly.

Mark is our rear tire carrier.  Like me, he works a “regular” job during the week and is a contract pit crew guy on the weekends.  He and our jackman, Jeff Kerr, are the only two pit crew guys to have been with Martin since he first started racing in the Busch series.

Mark is married to his wife Jennifer, and they have 2 girls, Amber who is sixteen and Brooke who is almost two.

Growing up in Rowan County he was a huge Bobby Allison fan. Mark lived the Miller high life… a six pack at a time while pulling for Bobby and the Alabama Gang.

Mark graduated from North Rowan High in 1991 where he was a stand out football, basketball and baseball player.  He was an All American 3^rd baseman who turned down several College scholarships to pursue his pit crew and career aspirations.

After high school Mark was working in the Seafood business waiting for his big break.  After a while Mark said that he got tired of coming home smelling like fish each night and started looking for a cleaner profession.

“I wanted a job where everybody needed me”, Mark recalled thinking.

“One day I was just sitting in the bathroom and thought, maan, everyone has to use the John!”

So, Mark sent his application off to the Rowan Septic Tank Company.  Luckily for Mark, they were looking for an athletic guy with a background in the seafood business to drive one of their poopy pump trucks.

When Mark isn’t pumping out septic tanks he’s pumping it up in the gym maintaining 11% body fat and a six pack that even Bobby Allison would be proud of.

Working his way up to Poop Pumper Specialist Mark has been a key part of the success of Rowan Septic Tank Company for over five years.  That same dedication and the desire to be the best has also made him a key part of our pit crew and one of the best tire carriers on pit road.

DT